Book a Neurodiversity Educator, Disability
Rights Advocate, Mental Health Keynote
Speaker With Lived Experience
As a neurodiversity educator, disability rights advocate, and mental health recovery speaker, I deliver keynote presentations, workshops, professional trainings (eg. CLEs), conference breakout room sessions, and workplace teambuilding for workplaces, nonprofits, legal teams, conferences, educational institutions, and more.
My speaking style blends lived experience storytelling, evidence-based tools, practical strategies, and (when appropriate) the creative worldbuilding of my Questify Your Life system.
All topics are fully customizable to meet your organization’s goals, audience, and topic needs.
Most Requested Speaking Topics
All presentations and workshops can be customized to meet your needs.
Neurodiversity in the Workplace
Available as a keynote, training, CLE, and more.
In this presentation, participants gain a foundational understanding of neurodiversity and its significance in the workplace, with an emphasis on how neurodiversity fits into a larger conversation about disability. This interactive presentation serves as effective neurodiversity workplace training, beginning with an interactive introduction, followed by an exploration of neurodiversity, the role it plays in our professional lives, and strategies for fostering a more inclusive work environment. Participants will also discover (and rediscover) self-care techniques to support their well-being while advocating for themselves and/or neurodivergent colleagues and clients.
This session includes:
- Interactive introductions
- Lived experience storytelling
- A practical overview of neurodiversity
- Highlighting the strengths of a neurodiverse workplace
- Strategies for supporting neurodivergent individuals, employees, and clients
- Self-accommodation techniques to practice working with the strengths of your neurotypes while adjusting for your weaknesses.
Previous examples of this and related presentations:
Selected Testimonials Related
to Neurodiversity in the Workplace
1.
“Sierra was our keynote speaker for our Annual Justice Alan Page Elimination of Bias CLE Seminar. She shared her personal story, defined neurodiversity and related terms, shared impactful data about neurodivergent individuals and the law field and gave resources for further learning. In Addition, we hired her to help us plan the seminar content, both her speech and the following panel she was a panelist on because of her expertise. She was incredibly communicative and responsive in the planning process and delivered big during her engaging speech. Many guests from the event reached out to tell us they enjoyed the subject material and some even reached to say they are now planning their own CLE about neurodiversity and would like to work with her.”
Neurodiversity in the Legal Field: Enhance Your Understanding to Support Clients, Coworkers, and Yourself. Page Education Foundation.
2.
“Well prepared. Incredible presentation. Kept on track/pace. Very helpful. Words just flowed.”
Elimination of Bias: Understanding Neurodiversity – Key Considerations for Family Lawyers. Minnesota CLE – Family Law Institute
3.
Sierra-this was an amazing event, and I am so impressed how you are able to translate a complicated topic into easy to understand information with your examples!
DEI Neurodiversity Webinar: One Workplace, Many Minds, Countless Perspectives. Bowman and Brooke LLP.
4.
The information was comprehensive, yet focused. I really appreciated hearing the presenter’s personal experience as an example for the rest of the presentation to draw from.
Supporting Mental Health and Neurodivergent Clients in the Workplace. Mental Health Technology Transfer Center.
5.
Thank you again for such a powerful session today. You were fantastic! Your honesty, vulnerability, and depth made the space feel real, safe, and incredibly meaningful for everyone who attended. You brought insight, compassion, and clarity in a way that truly landed.
Inclusive Workplaces for All Brains and Neurotypes. Project Management Institute (Minnesota Chapter)
Mental Health Recovery:
Leading From Lived Experience
This story-focused presentation teaches about mental health recovery.
I share my mental health recovery journey, from growing up in and out of mental health hospitals, receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) while still in high school, losing a year of my memory due to the ECT side effects, struggling through the transition into adulthood, and ultimately getting the support and skills necessary to start my mental health recovery journey.
This presentation explores the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s (SAMHSA) working definition of recovery: “a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.”
And I emphasize the key dimensions of Health, Home, Purpose, and Community to explore the vital roles of both formal and informal support systems, illustrating how they can be integrated to create effective, creative, and individualized recovery plans that center on an individual’s experience while calling for more accessible and robust mental health care systems.
Suggested Learning Objectives for this presentation (can easily be modified to meet your presentation needs):
- Highlight the critical role of personal stories, mental health lived experience, and advocacy in promoting mental health recovery.
- Equip attendees with an understanding of the SAMHSA recovery framework (working definition of recovery), focusing on the four major dimensions: Health, Home, Purpose, and Community.
- Educate attendees on the importance and interplay of formal (professional services) and informal (peer support, community networks) support.
Great for:
Keynote & Plenary Sessions
Mental health conferences and recovery summits
Any group that would benefit from a story-based discussion about mental health recovery and the nuances of dynamic disabilities.
Previous examples of this and related presentations:
Selected Testimonials Related to Mental Health Recovery
Questify Your Life: Gamification and Positive Psychology for Enjoyable Self-Improvement
In this fun and interactive session, I share my passion for blending evidence-based techniques with gamification elements to add a sense of adventure, accomplishment, and fun to everyday life. This presentation is set up to briefly outline some foundations of gamification and positive psychology and how they can be applied to develop a flexible and personalized “Questify Your Life” system. The tone of this presentation is playful, courageous, and inspirational.
You’ll learn my flexible three-step process for quest creation: mapping your journey, establishing your character, and designing fulfilling quests. I provide real-world examples from my own life to illustrate how to implement the system, and I will introduce your audience to some quests to do on their own. My stories are often directly tied to my mental health recovery and disability journey, as well as my disability advocacy work.
Suggested learning objectives for this self-improvement presentation (can easily be modified to meet your presentation needs):
- Learn the basics of gamification and positive psychology principles for self-improvement.
- Empower attendees to explore self-care options to create more self-satisfaction and fuel personal growth through gamification.
- Encourage participants to consider new ways to think about the systems they have in their lives as they relate to their well-being and goals.
Great For
- Any group that would benefit from a creative and fun presentation focusing on personal growth, gamification, and play, delivered by a gamification speaker.
- Well-being week events and positive psychology workshops.
- Wellness retreats.
- Leadership events seeking a highly motivating self-improvement keynote.
Previous examples of this and related presentations
- “Fighting Dragons: A Conversation around Disability Inclusion and the Power of Storytelling” US Bank Law Division.
- “The Wellness Reset Quest” NAMI Peer Leadership Council
- “Questify Your Life: Using Gamification and Positive Psychology for Self-Satisfaction” NAMIcon 2024.
- “Questify Your Life” WP Engine Wellness Week
Selected Testimonials Related to Questify Your Life
- “Thank you, this was great! Actually got reminded I’m doing better than I had given myself credit for.” Wellness Reset Quest, NAMI PLC
“Sierra’s philosophy is at once simple and grand: Turn your life into an adventure, and you’ll find that mundane things become enjoyable and the hard things more likely to get done.” Podcast guest, Ben Greene
Additional Speaking & Workshop Topics
These topics can be delivered as stand-alone keynotes, breakout sessions, half-day trainings, or multi-part workshop series:
- Finding a Seat at the Table for Beginners: A Guide to Local Mental Health Advocacy
- Disability Awareness & Inclusion
- Understanding and Addressing Ableism in the Workplace
- Invisible Disabilities in the Workplace
- Perspective-Shifting Storytelling
- Disability in DEI Conversations
- Creative Self-Care & Burnout Prevention
- Accessibility & Accommodations
- Calling In vs. Calling Out
- Aiming For Useful, Not Perfect: A Discussion About Inclusive Language
If your organization is seeking a topic related to disability, neurodiversity, mental health, inclusion, gamification, or workplace well-being, I can customize a session specifically for your goals.
Customization options include:
- Industry-specific examples (legal, healthcare, nonprofit, education, corporate)
- CLE-eligible versions
- Leadership, HR, or manager-focused versions
- Student or educator-focused versions
- Interactive exercises or discussion prompts
- Small-group breakout sessions
- Post-event Q&A or fireside chat
- Follow-up consulting session
- Multi-session or multi-department training series
Panelist Experience:
Need an additional panelist?
Examples of previous panelist experience
- “Disability, Ableism, and Advocacy in the Legal Profession,” Hennepin County Law Library
- “Resilience and Rights: Defending Disability Inclusion Amid DEI Rollbacks” Minnesota Women Lawyers
- “Navigating Accommodations in the “Real World”: How the Interactive Process Impacts Well-Being“ Mitchell Hamline School of Law
- “Lived Experience Panel: An Evening of Storytelling for World Mental Health Day” NAMI Minnesota
- “An Unfinished Journey: Civil Rights for People with Development Disabilities and the Role of the Federal Courts” Federal Bar Association Minnesota chapter
- “Realizing the Right to Food in Universities” University of Miami’s Food, Housing, And Racial Justice Symposium
- “Out in the Open: Unseen Disabilities in the Legal Community” Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association
My Speaking & Booking Process
Step 1:
Connect With Me
Choose the option that works best for your workflow:
- Schedule a 30-minute conversation via Calendly
- Fill out the Speaker Inquiry Form
- Email me at Sierra@QuestifyYourLife.com with your event details
Step 2:
Discovery Call
We’ll discuss your goals, audience needs, accessibility considerations, and desired outcomes.
Step 3:
Custom Speaking Proposal & Agreement
You’ll receive a draft speaking agreement and presentation proposal for your review, outlining:
- Topic(s) and session format
- Proposed agenda
- Scope of work
- Customization details
- Travel logistics
- Pricing and payment information
Step 4:
Preparation & Collaboration
I refine the presentation based on your feedback and finalize accessibility, run-of-show, and technology details.
Optionally, we will find time to meet a few weeks before the event to confirm event details.
Step 5:
Event Delivery
I bring a blend of lived experience, legal insight, storytelling, interactivity, and practical skills your audience can apply immediately.
Speaking Fees and Pricing Information
My pricing reflects the education, experience, and lived experience required to teach topics related to neurodiversity, disability inclusion, and mental health recovery.
Typical Speaker Fee Range:
$2,000 – $15,000
Fees vary depending on:
- Event type (keynote, workshop, CLE, training series)
- Time commitment and preparation required
- Degree of customization
- Audience size and engagement level
- Travel days (if applicable)
- Organizational budget
Nonprofits, Schools, and Limited-Budget Organizations
If you are part of a nonprofit, school, community organization, or group with a limited budget, please reach out anyway. If the mission aligns and I have availability, I will do my best to find a way to make it work.
Ready to Bring a Neurodiversity, Disability Inclusion, or Mental Health Session to Your Organization?
